Innocence Lost
by Kirii
Summary: Sidestory to Sunrise. Barricade first met Bumblebee when the younger mech was brought to the Youth Sectors as a sparkling. What started as an attempt to quiet a wailing sparkling turned to a friendship only younglings could share. Warnings inside.


**Title:** Innocence Lost  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Pairings:** Hints at future Barricade/Bumblebee with mentions of Ironhide/Chromia, Prowl/Jazz and OC/OC.  
**Warnings:** Cuteness, femme-slash, senseless destruction, and character death all rolled into one. Go me! -bricked for being cheerful about it-  
**Notes:** This is kind of a side story for _Sunrise._ It contains minor spoilers for future chapters of _Sunrise_, but in the long run, it's not really that bad. Just a tad spoilerific; it reveals Bumblebee and Barricade's past together.

Just as an added note, I'm going along with Mazuiko's thoughts on younglings in _On Your Shore_; they start off small and their bodies grow. To quote Mazuiko, "To survive a war, they need to heal, and if they can heal, they can grow."

I may have some terminology wrong; I used 'orn' as a Cybertronian day, 'vorn' as a year, and 'joor' as an hour. If that's wrong, forgive me, I'm really dumb and out of it these days. And, last thing, when dialogue is written as italics contained in double-slashes (ex: _//The author needs caffeine//)_, it's over a digital communication line.  
**Disclaimer:** The combined restraining order and threat to shoot me on sight kind of keeps me from claiming these characters as my own. Quicksilver, Sonata, and the various youngling OCs belong to me, though. Crossfire belongs to my sisters.

**-Innocence Lost-**

The sparkling was loud. Barricade didn't like loud sparklings; they ruined the whole orn. This particular sparkling was louder than the other sparklings and that was enough to make Barricade dislike him. The supervisors were busy with the younglings that the loud sparkling, Bumblebee, had woken with his electronic shrieks. None of them could attend to him; nap time at the Youth Sectors nursery was quickly hurtling into chaos.

Barricade took it upon himself to fix things and walked over to the sparkling. He fixed the screeching Bumblebee with a glare before telling him simply to shut up. Surprisingly, the sparkling did. Bumblebee looked at Barricade with wide blue optics, looking all the world as confused and innocent as one of their kind did when they were first brought online. Barricade knew better; he was at least eight thousand years older than the sparkling, who couldn't have been more than two thousand. He had seen more than one sparkling attempt their cute-eyed innocence and he never fell for it.

"Don't give me that look," he said, still glaring at him.

Bumblebee tilted his head slightly to the left and gave a small chirrup at the older youngling. Barricade gave a sigh and shook his head, leaning over the edge of the berth to get a closer look at the sparkling.

"Don't think you can trick me," Barricade told him. "Just because it's your first day here doesn't mean it's mine."

He reached over and poked Bumblebee. He almost expected the sparkling to burst into another fit of shrieks at the prodding, but he was surprised when Bumblebee simply reached and put his small arms around his own. Blinking his optics at the little bot, Barricade tried to shake Bumblebee off.

"Hey, leggo."

Bumblebee gurgled at him, shuttering his optics and clinging to Barricade's arm. The older mech stood at the edge of the sparkling's berth, not quite understanding why the little bot seemed so content to cling to him. He was somewhat annoyed when he heard the sparkling's systems whirring in the tell-tale sign of a mech in recharge. Even when recharging, the sparkling refused to let go of his arm. Barricade, figuring that prying Bumblebee off would only wake the little bot and make him start shrieking again, climbed up onto the berth next to Bumblebee.

"Stupid sparkling," he muttered.

He made himself as comfortable as possible on the small berth and shuttered his optics. He felt the sparkling unconsciously scoot closer to him. Barricade frowned and tried to ignore the smaller body next to his. Failing that, he imagined Bumblebee to be the large toy he'd slept with when he was the sparkling's age. It was hard to fall into recharge with the other younglings and sparklings still shrieking, but they were infinitely quieter than Bumblebee had been, so Barricade was eventually able to shut out their cries and fall into recharge.

* * *

Chromia and Quicksilver were the two femmes that had been in charge of the Youth Sectors nursery when Bumblebee was first brought in by Chromia's life-mate, Ironhide. The little sparkling had been orphaned in the latest Decepticon attack of Ky Alexa and Ironhide's first thought upon finding the sparkling was to get him to the Youth Sectors in Praxus; the city was the only safe place on all of Cybertron, thanks to a declaration passed as a precaution many millennia ago, before the war broke out, when life was simple and peaceful. 

Quicksilver had taken the sparkling, who'd fallen into recharge during the time Ironhide spent reaching the Youth Sectors, and placed him onto a berth for the time being. However, shortly after she'd turned her back, the sparkling woke up and started to wail, his vocal processors emitting a high-pitched electronic screech that few believed was ever possible. The sparkling's cries jolted every napping youngling in the nursery out of their recharge, sending most of them into a state of tantrums and fright.

Sometimes, Quicksilver wondered why she'd ever thought working at the Youth Sectors was a good idea. Of course, the mothering mind-set that was ingrained deep in her programming contributed to it, but she had never expected to have to deal with so many sparklings and younglings as they threw synchronized tantrums at being woken from recharge by a wailing nursery-mate. Why couldn't she have gotten assigned to the training barracks instead of the nursery, her processor whined.

She rushed about, showing off exactly why her designation was Quicksilver, attending to her charges, trying to get them to go back into recharge for even just a while longer. She saw Chromia doing the same and even the tough old Ironhide was helping out, to make things just a bit easier. She glanced over to the berth where she'd set Bumblebee, hoping that maybe Arcee had come back from supply room to take care of him, but the magenta-armored femme was no where to be seen. Instead, Quicksilver noticed one of her charges, a youngling by the designation Barricade, had crawled up onto the berth and was letting Bumblebee cling to his arm in his recharge state.

"Hey, Chromia," she smiled. "Look at this."

Chromia looked up, her optics following Quicksilver's gaze to the two recharging younglings. A soft sigh escaped her and she looked over to Ironhide, giving him a look of longing. She wanted her own sparkling, but with the war, she wasn't sure that she could risk it. As it was, working in the Youth Sectors gave her a sense of satisfaction when it came to taking care of younglings. True, none of them were her own, but she treated all of them as if they were. It was ingrained in all femmes' programming to care for younglings and Chromia was no exception. Her care and devotion that went into taking care of all of the younglings in the nursery easily went above and beyond what was expected of her.

"Looks like we may not have a lot of trouble with little Bumblebee," Quicksilver said as she picked up another of the sparklings. She ran her fingers over a circuit on the sparkling's neck to calm him down and carried him for a while until she heard his systems humming in recharge.

"I wouldn't brush it off just yet, 'Silver," Ironhide said. "He's only just gotten here. When he realizes that he's not home and his creators are gone for good, you're going to have quite the job on your hands."

Quicksilver pouted the best she could. She set the now relaxed sparkling down and moved on to the next one.

* * *

For several orns after Bumblebee's arrival to the Youth Sector's nursery, Chromia, Quicksilver and Arcee had little difficulty taking care of the small bot. However, as Ironhide predicted, Bumblebee became quite the handful when he realized that the nursery was not his home in Ky Alexa and that the three femmes were not his creators. The sparkling spent joors shrieking when he first figured it out and none of them could get him to quiet down. Quicksilver and Arcee took turns carrying Bumblebee around the Youth Sectors, through the Helix Gardens, through the marketplace of Praxus, hoping that exploring might get Bumblebee to settle down, while Chromia called in Moonracer to help her watch the remaining younglings in the nursery. 

No matter what the femmes did, nothing soothed Bumblebee. Moonracer finally offered to switch places with Arcee to give the exhausted magenta-armored fighter a bit of a break. When they switched, young Barricade took advantage of the moment to hurry over to Quicksilver, who waited outside the nursery with the wailing Bumblebee in her arms. He reached up and tapped the femme's leg to get her attention.

"Barricade!" Quicksilver sighed. "I can't play right now. Bumblebee needs to go into recharge!"

"Lemme hold 'im," Barricade demanded.

"No, Barricade," the femme replied, struggling to keep Bumblebee in her arms. "You're not big enough to hold him."

A particularly loud shriek from Bumblebee nearly shattered the silver femme's audios. The sparkling tried to twist out of her arms, reaching for Barricade as he did so. Quicksilver, figuring that it was worth a try, crouched down so Bumblebee could grab onto the other youngling. As she did, the little bot finally quieted down, clinging to Barricade with his little arms. Barricade held onto Bumblebee, clicking softly at the sparkling in an attempt to keep him quiet for a while.

Moonracer, Arcee, and Chromia all came to the door to see what Quicksilver had done to finally get Bumblebee to settle down and were all surprised to see Barricade cradling the sparkling close as he could while keeping Bumblebee in the femme's arms. Quicksilver noticed the other three and called to them over private links, so as not to upset Bumblebee again.

_//I think we should keep these two together for a while,//_ she told them._ //Barricade seems to be the only one Bumblebee will listen to.//_

_//I think that's a good idea for now,//_ Chromia replied. _//Take Barricade with you around the sectors until Bumblebee's in recharge.//_ The blue-armored femme turned to Arcee and Moonracer. _//You two, go watch the other younglings for a while. I'm going to accompany Quicksilver for the time being.//_

_//Yes, Lady,//_ the two other femmes chorused. They headed inside as Chromia picked up Barricade to take him with Bumblebee and Quicksilver.

Quicksilver and Chromia held onto the two younglings as they walked along around the Youth Sectors. Bumblebee struggled to reach Barricade as they went, so the two femmes had to walk close together so that Bumblebee could grab onto at least the older youngling's arm. This way, at least, the sparkling was satisfied and quiet.

As the two femmes continued to walk around the sectors in an attempt to lull Bumblebee into recharge, Quicksilver brought up some of her worries for the coming days over a private communication line with Chromia.

_//Chromia, Barricade's due to leave the nursery within the next several orns,_// the speedstress said. _//What are we going to do with Bumblebee if the only one that can calm him down is a youngling that can't be there?//_

Chromia thought on that. She, too, had been wondering what to do when she first noticed the attachment that Bumblebee had to Barricade. The sparkling was becoming dependant on the older youngling for comfort. To separate them could possibly be harmful to Bumblebee's developing systems; something none of the femmes stationed at the nursery wanted to see happen to the sparkling.

_//We'll figure something out,//_ Chromia said. _//Barricade will still be within the vicinity; he's far too young to leave the Youth Sectors. Perhaps we can arrange something with the instructors.//_

Though the military academy of Iacon had been shut down during the fighting, the Youth Sectors maintained a training program that helped prepare Cybertron's younglings for the war that continued to rage around the planet. All younglings were equipped with armor once their bodies had developed enough to support it and trained to defend themselves. Barricade would soon be leaving to join the program. Once enrolled, the youngling would have little time to visit the nursery to see Bumblebee.

Of course, Barricade wasn't thinking about visiting. He was ready to leave the nursery and its sparklings. Though he had grown to like Bumblebee over the last several orns, excitement filled Barricade; excitement of heading off to training and joining older younglings that had left the last vorn, like his friend, Blackout. It was much like a rite of passage towards adulthood to younglings these days to join the training program at the Youth Sectors. The youngling wasn't even thinking about how his departure from the nursery would affect Bumblebee.

Blissfully unaware of the conversation Chromia and Quicksilver were having, Bumblebee dropped into recharge, his hand clinging to Barricade's. Barricade gave a tired smile as he watched his small friend shutter his optics as he snuggled into Chromia's body for a short recharge of his own. Quicksilver and Chromia gave soft smiles of their own as they turned to head back to the nursery; the two younglings they cared for were really adorable.

* * *

"Bumblebee, hold still, please!" Quicksilver begged. 

The silver speedstress was trying to clean the paint from the youngling's frame. Over the time that had passed since Barricade left for training, the young Bumblebee had been alternately sulking and being reasonably well-behaved. During the first few orns after the other youngling's departure, Bumblebee had caused quite a bit of chaos, but had settled down after he realized that Barricade came back every so often.

Chromia had gone ahead and conferred with several of the instructors that ran the Youth Sectors' training program in order to arrange a schedule of visitation. Such things were previously unheard of, but Bumblebee's reputation had spread through the Youth Sectors like wildfire. Something had to be done and it had to involve Barricade. The mechs involved had discussed the idea before returning to Chromia with the requested schedule; Barricade would be available to come to the nursery every few solar cycles.

Nitpicky as she was, Quicksilver wanted Bumblebee to at least be presentable when Barricade was escorted to the nursery to visit. Hence the reason she had the youngling in the wash racks, scrubbing away at the paint that Bumblebee had managed to get all over his small body. Honestly, after half a vorn of this, one would think she would have learned to keep an eye on the youngling when paint was involved in the activities of the nursery.

"How did you make such a mess?" she asked, lifting Bumblebee's arms. "We didn't even give you that much paint!"

Bumblebee clicked happily at her in amusement. The femme sighed and shook her head with a smile. Her fingers tickled at his sides and Bumblebee squealed. Laughter escaped Quicksilver and she placed a kiss to the top of the bitty-bot's head before going back to work cleaning him up. Once she was finished, she dried both him and herself off so they could go back to the nursery.

As Quicksilver carried Bumblebee into the nursery, she was surprised to see her spark-mate, Sonata, accompanying the youngling. Her surprise turned to delight quickly as she brought Bumblebee over. She set the youngling down next to Barricade before she gave the black and emerald femme a tight hug, her spark warming at the feel of her mate's body.

"I was so worried about you!" she said. "I heard Iacon was a mess and was afraid you'd be hurt."

Sonata returned the hug gently. "I'm fine, Quicksilver," she told the speedstress. "You'd know if something happened to me." The taller femme leaned in to place a soft kiss to the other's lips.

Quicksilver shifted so the kiss landed on her forehead. "Not in front of the younglings, Sonata."

Sonata laughed and bent down to scan Bumblebee. "So this is the little glitch-mouse?"

Quicksilver crouched next to her mate. "He's not a glitch-mouse, love." She put a hand on Bumblebee's head as the yellow youngling clung to his friend. "Yes, this is Bumblebee."

Barricade tried to push the younger mech off. "Get off, BB," he said, trying to be firm. The small, almost invisible smile on his face ruined the attempt. "You'll scuff my armor."

"Snuggles!" Bumblebee chirped.

Quicksilver giggled. Bumblebee had recently begun speaking coherent Cybertronian and 'snuggles' had been one of his first clear words. He'd learned the word from Quicksilver; the femme had a habit of calling Barricade's visits 'snuggle time' in order to get Bumblebee to behave before the older youngling arrived. Of course, he used the term as Barricade's name, much to the black and white youngling's chagrin.

Sure enough, Barricade's faceplates were turning red from mortification. "You stupid sparkling…" he muttered, tone both annoyed and endearing.

Bumblebee nuzzled his head in Barricade's neck, clicking rapidly in delight. He was still young enough that he didn't realize that the older youngling's words were typically an insult. Quicksilver had long ago learned the Barricade only said it out of habit from when he'd first met Bumblebee. She now found it rather adorable, oddly enough.

"So, are you staying in Praxus?" Quicksilver asked, turning to her mate.

Sonata shook her head. "I return to Iacon tonight. The Prime sent me here to pick up fresh energon and Perceptor had me escort Barricade to the nursery while I waited for the shipment."

Quicksilver's face fell. "So you'll be leaving soon?"

The black and emerald femme leaned in to nuzzle her head against her mate's. "I can stay for your break, if it cheers you up."

"I'd like that," Quicksilver smiled.

Moonracer approached from the hallway. "Why don't you take off early, then?" the other femme asked, placing her hands on her hips. "I can take over for you."

Quicksilver bounced happily to her feet. "Thanks, Moonracer!" she exclaimed. She grabbed Sonata's arm and pulled the other femme up. "C'mon, love, let's go to the gardens!"

Moonracer had to laugh at her friend's antics. "Have fun."

There was no real reply as Quicksilver practically dragged her mate out of the nursery. Moonracer smiled and went about her duties as a nursery attendant. Chromia was already busy on the other side of the nursery, preparing the energon for the younglings that she and the other femmes took care of. When the older femme started passing out the cubes of energon, Moonracer went over to help, hailing her mentor over a private link.

_//Chromia, I received news from some of the Autobots,// _she said. _//Prowl seems to think that there's a traitor amongst their lines.//_

Chromia looked up at the younger femme. _//You know we're supposed to stay neutral in this war, Moonracer.//_

Despite her life-mate being amongst the Autobot lines, Chromia herself was neutral because of her work at the Youth Sectors. All Youth Sector personnel were to be considered neutral because any sign of preference over one side of the war could mean the end of the safety of Praxus. It was true that she worried for the Autobots and believed in their cause over the Decepticons, but she could not truly take sides; if she did, she felt it wouldn't be fair to the younglings in her charge, some of which had come from Decepticon creators.

_//I just thought that you ought to know, considering your life-mate…//_

_//You know as well as I that Ironhide can handle himself. He doesn't need me to worry about him.//_

Moonracer gave a soft nod, returning to the task of passing out energon to the younglings. _//Should I let Quicksilver know?//_

Chromia gave a slight shake of her head. _//She worries over her mate enough. We shouldn't pressure her by telling her of a possible traitor to the Autobots. She'd never be able to focus on her work with the younglings if she was too focused on worrying over Sonata.//_

_//Yes, Lady,// _Moonracer said.

Barricade and Bumblebee took the cubes of energon that Moonracer offered them. Barricade sipped slowly at his, keeping an eye on the smaller youngling, who had a habit of drinking his energon too quickly. Bumblebee effectively chugged his energon and played with the empty container for a while. The older youngling shook his head at the other's immaturity. It was expected, to be sure, since Bumblebee was still just a sparkling, but it was something that Barricade certainly didn't want anyone from his training to know about; Blackout already teased him for still spending time at the nursery.

Bumblebee squeaked at Barricade, jolting the other youngling out of his thoughts of how to keep Blackout from teasing him about this whole situation. The older youngling turned to Bumblebee and was knocked over as the bitty-bot jumped on him.

"Play with me!" Bumblebee chirruped.

Barricade smiled. "Okay, okay." He pushed the smaller mech off him, stood up and began to lead Bumblebee over to where some toys were strewn across the floor.

* * *

Almost a full vorn had passed since Barricade had joined the training program. He was spending more and more time training as orns went by and less time in the nursery. His visits to Bumblebee became fewer and further between as his training intensified. Though the younger mech was getting used to him not being there, Bumblebee still liked to see Barricade when the other youngling could manage to visit. The attachment was still very much there, but had gradually gotten weaker as the two of them spent more time apart. 

No longer did Bumblebee throw fits when Barricade was gone for long periods of time. The youngling had mellowed out quite a bit over the past vorn. He'd made friends with some of the other younglings in the nursery and had connected to the femmes that cared for all of them. He'd especially connected to Chromia and Quicksilver, since they were the ones who most often took care of him. Moonracer often tended to the other younglings, so Bumblebee didn't really interact with her often and Arcee had disappeared out of the blue one day not too long ago.

It had become quiet in the nursery once again. Chromia, Quicksilver and Moonracer had their hands full taking care of the younglings. While they went around handing out energon goodies, Bumblebee made his way over to the windows in the nursery that overlooked the Helix Gardens. His sharp little youngling optics noticed odd movement down in the city and he leaned forward to get a closer look. Something deep down in his systems insisted that something was wrong.

"'Silver," he called from his perch at the window. Once the femme looked his way, Bumblebee pointed out the window, towards the city.

Quicksilver set down the tray of energon goodies she had been carrying and went over to Bumblebee. She tilted her head to the side as she looked first at the youngling, then followed his gaze. Her stronger optics focused on a spot near the center of Praxus and her optic ridges furrowed together. As she looked, she could make out a group of mechs making their way through the streets. Each of them carried a weapon in plain sight; something that simply was not seen in Praxus, since it was neutral territory.

To both her and Bumblebee's shock, the group of mechs opened fire. Quicksilver grabbed Bumblebee away from the window with a cry. Holding the youngling to her, the speedstress turned around abruptly to face her fellow femmes.

"The city's being attacked!" she cried.

"What?!" Chromia asked. The blue-armored femme rushed over to the window to look. She saw the Decepticon sigil emblazoned on the armor of the mechs in the group that was, indeed, attacking the city. She whirled back around, determination blazing in her optics. "Get the younglings out, now!"

Quicksilver and Moonracer nodded swiftly and began immediately to herd the younglings out of the nursery. Chromia rushed over to the communications center of the nursery and signaled the Youth Sectors guard. Ultra Magnus' face appeared on screen, a solemn expression on his faceplates.

"Magnus, Praxus is under fire!" Chromia informed him, though it was perfectly obvious that the mech knew already. "We need back-up at the nursery!"

Ultra Magnus nodded. "Understood. I'm sending a group your way."

Chromia cut the connection, knowing there wasn't time for anything else to be said. She picked up a wailing sparkling from its berth and rushed to help Moonracer and Quicksilver get the other younglings out. Her instincts to protect the younglings were overriding any desire she had to protect herself as blasts from the Decepticons' weapons grew louder. Younglings rushed out of the nursery, following Moonracer as the green femme led the way to a safe haven.

_And I had hoped we would never have need of it,_ Chromia thought.

"Stay together!" she exclaimed, grabbing another youngling by the hand and hurrying to get him to safety. She looked up to see a group of guards running their way. She recognized another femme, Firestar, as the leader of the group. "Firestar, we need to get the younglings to safety!"

Firestar nodded. "Of course! This way, quickly!"

Chromia continued onward as Firestar and her team headed into the nursery to fetch any younglings still behind. A blast from a glider caused the building in which the nursery was located to shake violently. Younglings all around began wailing loudly in fright. Seekers flew by the windows, their large bodies menacing in the dark sky over Praxus. More blasts sounded as the seekers let loose their weapons.

A familiar voice reached Quicksilver's audios. "Lord Megatron has ordered the destruction of this zone!"

The silver speedstress turned to see none other than her mate, Sonata, leading a group of Decepticons into the Youth Sectors from the city. Shock filled her at the sight of her beloved attacking the city where she'd been sparked and raised. The urge to protect her home had Quicksilver pushing Bumblebee into a harried Perceptor's arms before she rushed off to try to stop Sonata.

"Sonata!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing?!"

"Get out of the way, Quicksilver," the black and emerald femme told her. "I have my orders!"

Quicksilver blocked her larger mate from getting past her. She shook her head in a mix of confusion, pain, and anger. "I can't let you hurt the younglings. What happened, Sonata? I thought you were in Iacon helping the Autobots!"

Sonata gave a metallic snort. "The Autobots are weak. They fight against the inevitable. Lord Megatron will have the Allspark and he will lead Cybertron into a glorious new age."

Quicksilver could barely comprehend what her mate was saying. "Has your processor short-circuited? Megatron will lead Cybertron into nothing but destruction!"

The all-too familiar second-in-command of the Decepticons, Starscream, flew overhead and transformed behind Sonata. "Having troubles, lieutenant?" he sneered. His blood-red gaze shifted to the valiantly guarding Quicksilver. "If the femme is in the way, destroy her."

Quicksilver's gaze shifted from Sonata, to Starscream, and back to her mate. "Sonata, please."

Starscream's optics narrowed. "Destroy her or I will."

Both Quicksilver and Sonata knew what would happen if Quicksilver was destroyed. Before the war had started, back when they were training together at the military academy in Iacon, the two femmes had joined their sparks, becoming the close mates they had been for the longest time. The connection they shared was crucial; if one end of the connection was terminated, the other would follow. Sonata looked at Starscream before she lowered her weapon.

"Quicksilver, join the Decepticons," she said. "Live. You're a good fighter and we'll have need for as many good fighters as possible to vanquish the Autobots."

Starscream raised an optic ridge. He knew that Sonata would normally have no qualms about destroying an opponent. What made this femme different? He watched the two for a moment, studying the way that Quicksilver stared at Sonata with such an expression of betrayal on her faceplates. A moment later and he had it figured out.

Quicksilver, unaware of Starscream's conclusion, shook her head. "I'd never join them. If they're so cruel as to destroy a neutral zone and the younglings within it, you know I could never."

"Such a valiant answer," Starscream sneered. "Unfortunately for you, there are no neutrals anymore. A response such as yours leads one to the conclusion that you side with the Autobots. Thus, you are of no use to us and a threat."

Before either femmes could realize what he was doing, Starscream had lifted his weapon and fired, straight into Quicksilver's body. The silver femme fell to the ground as Sonata cried out, her own spark feeling the destruction of her mate's. The absence of half of it, Sonata's spark began crumbling within its casing. Pain filled the glider as she fell to her knees, dropping her weapon and clutching at her chest. Her audios picked up on Starscream's cruel laughter before darkness took her.

Starscream stepped over the bodies of the two femmes and headed further into the Youth Sectors to resume the destruction ordered by Lord Megatron. He enjoyed the carnage that he and his regime wreaked, relishing in the cries of the Cybertronians that were destroyed in the attack on Praxus.

* * *

Optimus Prime had sent a team of his Autobots to Praxus as soon as he received the distress call from Ultra Magnus. Prowl, Jazz, Ironhide, Kup, Hound and Mirage were, unfortunately, too late to make any difference. By the time they arrived, Praxus was in ruins, fallen buildings smoking profusely and bodies of mechs, femmes, and younglings that had been massacred in the attack scattered throughout the devastated city. The Helix Gardens were gone, the crystals of the gardens shattered and dull in the rubble. 

It was a shocking sight to behold.

"Look for survivors," Prowl ordered, the sight of the decimated city he once called home making his spark ache like mad. He made his way through the rubble with the others, disturbed by the cruelty the Decepticons had shown in destroying the neutral zone.

Jazz followed Prowl, upset to see how this had affected his closest friend. He put a gentle hand on Prowl's shoulder, wanting nothing more than to comfort the tactician. Prowl gave him a soft look. He was grateful that Jazz was trying to comfort him, but at the moment, he could only shake his head; this was not the time for consolation. He pulled away from Jazz and continued his search for survivors, leaving the saboteur to do the same.

As they made their way through the leveled city, they found few survivors. Of the survivors, it didn't look as if any of them would last through the next orn. The destruction had been so thorough. Hound kneeled over a barely-functioning mech as Mirage tried to urge a youngling to stand up. Kup and Ironhide were busy lifting rubble in search of any others that might have survived.

Jazz's audios picked up a sudden sound: a cry from deep within the destroyed Youth Sectors. He rushed towards the barracks that had once stood so proudly. Prowl saw him go by and hurried to join him. Even between the two of them, it took several long breems to locate where the cry was coming from, even longer to dig through to find the youngling that was crying. Prowl pushed aside a large piece of debris, uncovering the small bot, who stopped his wails when he saw the two mechs working to help him.

"Primus," Jazz murmured, reaching to pull the youngling from the rubble. The small bot immediately clung to him, terrified from the attack. "You're a lucky lil' bot, ain't ya?"

Prowl inspected the youngling in his friend's arms, looking for injuries. Of the obvious, the hefty scratches on the youngling's frame looked to be the worst; there was little telling what internal damage had been done. Prowl hailed Optimus Prime over a long-distance communication link and informed him that they'd need Ratchet to prepare for the injured.

The youngling began to whimper in Jazz's arms, burying his face in the saboteur's chest armor. Jazz carried him back to the others, letting Prowl continue searching for barracks for any other survivors. Ironhide noticed the youngling in his comrade's arms and immediately recognized him as the youngling that he himself had rescued from Ky Alexa over a vorn ago.

"Bumblebee!" he exclaimed.

"You know him?" Jazz asked.

Bumblebee squirmed in Jazz's arms and looked at Ironhide. He reached out for the older Autobot, knowing him from long ago. Jazz handed the youngling over, letting Ironhide cradle Bumblebee against his cannons.

"I brought him here after Ky Alexa was destroyed," Ironhide told Jazz.

Jazz gave an impressed whistle. "_Really_ lucky lil' bot," he said, rethinking his earlier statement. "We'd better get him somewhere safe."

Ironhide nodded. "I'll take him to Optimus and Ratchet. You keep looking for survivors."

Jazz gave a nod of his own and turned to rejoin Prowl in the search. Ironhide handed Bumblebee to Hound for a moment so he could transform. Hound then carefully put the youngling inside Ironhide's alt mode, where he'd be safe during the trip to Iacon. Ratchet would throw a fit if Ironhide let the youngling get hurt on the way to the Autobot base.

Bumblebee curled up inside Ironhide as he'd done when the weapons specialist had rescued him before. Still very much frightened, he tried to force himself into recharge, so he could forget what had happened. He wanted Chromia or Quicksilver to be with him, to comfort him as they'd done during his stay at the nursery, but he didn't know what had happened to either of them. He wanted Barricade, but he hadn't even seen the older youngling during the whole attack. Bumblebee was scared to think of what might have happened.

From underneath the cover the rubble had given him, he'd seen other younglings taken away by the mechs that had attacked. The recently-arrived Scorponok had been carried off by one of the large mechs as had the siblings, Havoc and Maniac. Others had been killed, their small, unarmored bodies vulnerable to the barrage of plasma shots the intruders had let loose. Bumblebee had stayed hidden and quiet under the rubble that protected him, where he could see the intruders, but they couldn't see him.

It was over now, but Bumblebee couldn't shake off the fright that possessed him after watching everything go down. The soft rumble of Ironhide's engine was somewhat comforting, but he'd much prefer to have either Chromia or Quicksilver gently coaxing him into recharge or Barricade to cling to in his fright. With all three of them gone and no clue to what had happened to them, Bumblebee tried to let Ironhide's engine lull him to recharge. Even though he was comfortable with the older mech, it still took the little bot a long time to fall into an uneasy rest.

* * *

The Decepticon base in Kaon was as cold and cruel as the Decepticons themselves. There were no warm crystals glowing nearby to give comfort to the group of younglings that waited in the hall. No femme offered a smile or energon goodie. No familiar instructor barked a drill at them. There was only silence as they waited. 

Barricade, Blackout, Viper, Havoc, Maniac, Scorponok and a handful of other younglings were scattered in a close proximity to one another, though they dared not ask each other anything about where they were, why they were there. None of them whispered, whimpered, muttered, or moaned. They didn't dare risk one of the Decepticons coming in and continuing what had started in Praxus.

Barricade sat cross-legged next to Blackout with the younger Havoc and Maniac curled up together within arm's reach of them. The black and white youngling paid little attention to any of the others around him. His thoughts were on those that had not been brought to the Decepticon base. He especially thought of his young friend, Bumblebee. He had no idea what had happened to the bubbly little youngling, whether he'd been rescued by the femmes who'd been so quick to herd younglings out of the Youth Sectors or whether he'd been killed by the attacking Decepticons.

The very thought made his young spark ache.

He looked up as the doors to the hall opened and none other than the former Lord High Protector stepped in, followed by his second-in-command and a red-visored mech. Barricade felt Maniac press against his thigh, her small frame shuddering at the sight of the three Decepticons. Quick frankly, he didn't blame the young femme for being afraid; Megatron was highly intimidating, with his daunting size, long claws and optics so red and intense that the younglings gathered in the hall were all filled from their sparks with fear.

Megatron's gaze swept over the group of younglings, silent and cold. He studied each of them briefly in turn. The entire hall was dead silent as the Decepticon lord inspected them. No youngling dared make any noise, should it bring Megatron's attention back to them. For the longest time, Megatron seemed to dwell on his thoughts before turning to the other two adult mechs.

"Start the training," he said. His voice carried throughout the hall. It was a low voice, filled with hate, anger, and just as frightening as all other aspects of the Decepticon lord. "Those who survive will join our troops."

That said, the leader of the Decepticons left the hallway, presumably to attend to something better worth his time than a handful of frightened younglings, some of which had the potential to be amongst his top line of soldiers. Starscream left behind Megatron, leaving the visored Decepticon to introduce the younglings to their new life. Soundwave was no less dark-sparked as his leader and commander, but he was infinitely more patient with younglings; hence why he'd been left in charge of their training.

The next several vorns were some of the harshest that Barricade would ever experience as he fought to survive amongst the Decepticon lines. The training that he and the other younglings were put through was rough and few of those who'd been brought from the Youth Sectors survived the training. Barricade had watched as Havoc's small frame began to crumble from the strain put on it. Maniac soon followed, the loss of her brother adding to the pain she felt during the intense training.

Aside from Barricade, among the survivors were Blackout, Scorponok, Viper and a small flyer named Crossfire. The five of them were brought into the front lines as grunts when the Decepticons went against the Autobots at Iacon. From that battle, they lost Crossfire, the flyer having been captured by the Autobots. Barricade had taken out more than one Autobot during that battle and moved up in the ranks.

He, Blackout and Scorponok advanced over the next several thousand years, making it into Megatron's elite troops by the time they attacked Tyger Pax. During the struggle to claim the Allspark, Barricade had been assigned to pry answers from captured Autobots and found himself questioning a young Autobot, one that he had immediately recognized at the sparkling that he'd long ago taken care of.

It had been several thousand years since the attack at Praxus and it showed. Bumblebee had grown as he had, reaching his adolescent size of fifteen feet. It was obvious to Barricade that the younger mech had been cared for, unlike he and the others amongst the Decepticons; Bumblebee's frame lacked the scars that told of a struggle to survive. This fact however, did not mean in the slightest that Bumblebee hadn't been trained well. The young Autobot had fought with experience, determined and standing strong.

Barricade spent plenty of time working to get answers out of Bumblebee, using his long claws to torture the younger mech as he'd been trained to do, causing pain as was expected of him, punishing as he had come to enjoy during his time with the Decepticons. Not once had Bumblebee answered him.

"You stupid sparkling!" he snarled, digging his claws into sensitive circuitry, dangerously close to the Autobot's spark case. "Where is the Allspark?!"

Despite the pain, Bumblebee refused to speak. Barricade mused on this; he'd once been unable to get the younger mech to shut up and now he couldn't get him to speak. It was rather ironic.

Before Barricade could continue his questioning, Megatron himself intervened, grabbing Bumblebee by the throat and lifting him to eye level, demanding the location of the Allspark. Barricade watched as the young Autobot valiantly challenged the Decepticon lord. He watched, optics flaring red as they focused on the younger mech as Megatron crushed Bumblebee's vocals. He watched, unable to care, as Bumblebee was thrown aside when the Allspark was launched into space and Megatron gave pursuit, fueled by rage.

Barricade looked down at the injured Bumblebee. "Stupid sparkling," he muttered.

The time he spent with Bumblebee as a youngling had been little more than a memory to him for the last several millennia. He'd held to the memory, sometimes dwelling on it as he slipped into recharge. Now, as he looked at the injured, unconscious Autobot, he knew it was only a memory. He stepped over Bumblebee, going to join Blackout and Scorponok in battle. He knew it wouldn't be the last time he'd fight against the younger mech; the war, after all, was far from over.

_**Author's Note:**__ Yay for ending with a cliché! Holy shit, I thought I'd never get this done. OO I had to have started this back in October. And good gods, this is the longest one-shot I've __**ever**__ written. Twelve frickin' pages! Anyways, that's my take on Barricade and Bumblebee's past. Feedback please!_


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